- - - What's One Day? - - -
By: Dark Angel
and Tsukiakari
Chapter
One: Preparations
Azure eyes lay fixed upon a bulky band clinging to
her finger. Her face frowning irritably as she fumbled with its bulkiness. The
shear weight of it was not meant for her delicate finger, but none the less, it
held her importance in life. Marking her as one of the
science division slaves. Slave. It was sad that a life had to be wasted
in such a way.
Frequently she would transfer the band to a
neighboring finger as to not tire the last any longer. Carefully though, if she
were to loose it, it would mean certain death.
It was strange to think why a race such as the saiyajins gave their lowest class citizens, slaves, a heavy ring to mark them as such. Saiyajins
may have been blood thirsty bastards that highly valued power and pride, but
they also valued beauty. It would be much more comely for them to give their
slaves a marker that signified more beauty than a weighty ring.
She remembered when she saw an old man be halted
for not having his ring. He had pleaded for his life and offered many things in
return. The soldier that stopped him had laughed and blew the poor man away.
Whenever a female lost her ring ... they lived a bit long, but none of them
wanted to be alive for those last moments. Usually male saiyajins
looked out for missing rings so they could find an excuse for a lay. Just something to ease their tension on. Ever since being
given the ring, she had been sure to never lose it. If she did ... she didn't
even want to think about it.
She watched from her perch on top of a tall supply
box. Vegitasei's second sun rising up in the horizon. The bright glow added
to the burnt orange color of the planet resulting in crimson bursts of color to
paint the early morning sky. Vegitasei woke like a
battle hardened warrior, as though she was bleeding from mortal wounds caused
by heaven's arrows. Did Vegitasei even have a heaven?
She could see a path of dust rising in the
distance. Kingdom transports were already making the journey through the
desert, to the temple. The entire population was coming to the
They had roused the slave quarters two hours
before dawn. Bardock came to her earlier that morning
and told her that she needed to be ready to go in half and hour. He always did
things like that for her.
* * * flashback * * *
"Bardock, why are
we leaving so early?" The sleep ridden slave asked her superior. Her
stunning cerulean eyes still clouded over from the dream world.
"The temple has to be ready before
sunset." He replied in a rough voice. She could tell he was in a serious
mood.
"Grrrr, get up
woman! I don't need a lazy tech slave bumbling around, messing this important
operation up!" Bardock was obviously a little
riled up. The fair woman rose and pulled on a pair of baggy work pants followed
by a uniform shirt that she left untucked. Following
obediently, she knew that her temper needed to be in check today.
* * * end flashback * * *
Still atop her high perch, the slave saw the other
members of Bardock's science and tech team walk by
unaware of her. After living with saiyajins for so
long, she knew how to act around them. She listened carefully to their conversation,
only able to pick up a bit of it.
"How come we are having
to do common slave work? The king should know by now that Bardock's
teams are the best and we should only be reserved for special operations."
A gruff saiyajin asked his companion.
"This is a special operation! The kingship
ceremony is the most important ceremony of the century! You know that baka..." The other member replied. He knew what was
going on better than anyone. He was the oldest member of Bardock's
team and his best friend, Toma.
The slave woman continued to stare at the
approaching transports. She wondered what exactly the kingship ceremony
included. Oh well, it wasn't her problem. She was still curious though. Her
gaze stole away to her ring once again.
Bardock walked through the mass of his teams. So far he had
completed the check on each med team member and tech team member. He still had
one more team to go. Flipping the next page on his clip-board he saw it was the
science division slaves. In order of rank, he read the first name.
"Bulma Briefs?" Bardock questioned, checking off
the attendance of each slave. Hearing no response, he looked around. He could
have sworn she had come with them. The saiyajin
scientist had made sure that their best science slave came along. She showed
extreme talent in electronics and other technical fields. Without her, the saiyajin race would not be as far along as they were.
"Bulma Briefs!" He called out louder, trying to spot the blue haired
woman. She was sitting on a fairly tall cargo box next to the temple staring at
something. How did she get up there anyway? He growled, sometimes she could be
so spaced out.
"BULMA BRIEFS!" He yelled. Bardock saw the blue
head snap up and stare at him. Her eyes were still slightly clouded over, but
she acknowledged him.
"Yes." The slave replied quietly. He
snorted at her in disappointment. If she wasn't worth as much as she was, he
would have put her down a long time ago. The king had found her on a purge
mission and given her to him for the science division. Ou
Vegita had told him that she was of significant
importance to them, and not to destroy her. Since that day the king had not
allowed any harm to come to her. Oh well, he had other things to be thinking
about. Bardock marked off her name and continued
checking the present slaves.
Bulma jumped down gracefully and walked to the
science team quickly. She dare not say a word, for the saiyajin
guards would make commotion and that was the last thing she wanted right now.
Getting on Bardock's bad side wasn't a good thing to
do, especially today. She went back a long way with her superior. He had been
the first saiyajin to be semi-nice to her. Bulma was
very grateful he was her overlord, the other slaves weren't as lucky. He had
taken her under his supervision as a technical slave and eventually made her a
member of the science division as well as his personal science team. Today was
a very important day in the
The blue haired beauty sighed,
her ring was making her hand ache from not being high enough past her knuckle.
She really wanted to fix it but Bardock's team of guards were coming around to keep the slaves in
order. If they saw her toying with her ring, they might get suspicious. They
were probably already looking to see if any of the slaves didn't have their
rings.
The science division was responsible for repairing
the temple walls and administering safety precautions. They couldn't go inside.
It just wasn't possible. The other teams had their own responsibilities and
such. She was jostled out of her thoughts by a guard's wandering hand pinching
her ass. She turned her head to face a massive saiyajin
looking down at her. Her gorgeous blue eyes turned fierce and warned him to
leave. His black eyes slid down to her right hand. Seeing for himself that she
wore her slave ring, he waved her off and walked away. Damn saiyajins!
They really set her blood on fire. It couldn't be healthy to have such a high
testosterone level. Bulma managed to keep her cool for the time being. Bardock was coming towards her.
"Come on. We have to get the supplies
unloaded and I put you in charge of security and wall repair." The saiyajin stated his orders as they walked towards the cargo
boxes.
"Do you have any specifications on wall
repair?" Bulma wondered. Bardock answered
quickly.
"The only one needing repair is the east
wall. Get it repaired within the hour and I'll have more orders ready for you
then." She nodded and walked side by side with him until the reached the
science team and ... the guards? The boxes must have been really heavy if they
required guards to lift them. She took in each guards face,
she knew most of them, including the brute that had pinched her. He was
smirking at her even now. Bulma rolled her eyes and listened to Bardock explain that she was in charge. After he left she
stepped up.
"Okay. I need three guards to take boxes to
each of the marked places on the east wall ... " Bulma
was grateful for the plentiful assistance, but that also meant she would have
to be around saiyajin males for a few hours. Today
was definitely going to be a long day.
~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~
~ ~
The high ceiling held no interest for him even
though he appeared to be staring at it. His dark face was in a state of calm. Even though Vegita's thoughts weren't.
The ouji laid stretched out
like a large cat sunning itself on a ridiculously oversized bed. He was wearing
his traditional training armor although his gold tipped boots lay in a pile on
the floor near the door.
Vegita's train of thought was interrupted by a soft knocking.
"Enter." His voice was virtually void of
care. A shaky servant stepped into the room.
"Sire, the king informs you that you have an
hour to get prepared for the ceremony." The skinny slave's mouth trembled
with fright. Vegita hesitated before replying.
"Leave." His voice no
more emotional than before. The slave bent at the waist and backed out
of the room so quickly he nearly tripped over his own feet.
"Hn." Vegita rose into a sitting
position and slid off the bed. He walked towards the door to gather his boots
and slipped them on with ease.
Soon he would have to face the toughest feat of
his life. As did every prince of the saiyajin
race before him. He smirked. Of course, he would out do them all. It was
well known that he was the most powerful of all the saiyajins,
excluding his father. Thinking that, his smirk fell. His stupid old man would
learn soon enough that he was old enough to be a fitted king. Oh yes, in due
time. The old bastard had the royal tutors explain the whole thing to him over
the years. When the reining prince turned of age, he was required to prove his
royalty by entering the
The